What championships are being held this week?
Individual bracket: West Virginia, Wisconsin (2/26-2/28): Delaware, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, National Preps, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Wyoming (2/27 & 2/28)
Dual meet: Delaware (2/24), Minnesota (2/26); Michigan (2/27 & 2/28): Illinois, Nebraska (2/28)
Which states have already concluded their championships?
Individual bracket: Alaska, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington
Dual meet: Georgia, Iowa, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Tennessee
Four things to look forward to this week
1. Can Apple Valley hold off St. Michael-Albertville for the state (dual) title in Class AAA
Apple Valley, this year ranked No. 18 nationally, has won (or shared) the state dual meet title for nine straight years, and 15 of the last 16 going back to 1999. This year, it is No. 23 St. Michael-Albertville nipping right on the Eagles' heels. Two years ago, the teams were declared co-champions after their state dual meet finals match ended in a 28-28 tie.
Last year, St. Michael-Albertville finished third after losing 37-21 to Prior Lake in the dual meet semifinal. The Knights have won seven (dual meet) state titles over the years, including that joint title in 2013, with most coming while they competed in Class AA.
St. Michael-Albertville, ranked second in Class AAA by The Guillotine, draws 12th-ranked Moorhead in the opening round; a likely semifinal against 3rd-ranked Willmar would follow. In the other half-bracket, Apple Valley opens with White Bear Lake, before a semifinal against either 5th-ranked Farmington or 6th-ranked Prior Lake.
Based on rankings produced by The Guillotine, the following weight classes are likely to place matchups with ranked wrestlers competing against one another:
106: No. 5 Nate Larson (Apple Valley) vs. No. 8 Patrick McKee (STMA)
160: No. 9 Andrew Walock vs. No. 10 Mitchell Zachman
170: No. 1 Mark Hall (No. 1 national) vs. No. 3 Evan Ronsen
195: No. 1 Bobby Steveson (No. 2 national) vs. No. 5 Evan Foster
220: No. 1 Gable Steveson (No. 17 national) vs. No. 4 Jake Briggs
The other nine weight classes have three Apple Valley ranked wrestlers and six STMA ranked wrestlers. This includes the three wrestlers for STMA who are ranked first in the state -- No. 6 Mitchell McKee (126), Jake Allar (138), and No. 18 Jordan Joseph (182). Based on the rankings produced by The Guillotine, Apple Valley is favored in eight weight classes; upsets, swing matchups, and lineup flexibility will play a role in the ultimate dual meet outcome.
2. Broken Arrow vs. Stillwater, chapter four
Clearly the two best teams in Class 6A, as well as overall in the Sooner State, No. 13 Stillwater and No. 14 Broken Arrow look to be locked up in a tooth-and-nail battle for the state individual title. Two weekends ago, it took a 5-3 decision from Cyntrell Carden in the dual meet's last match to yield victory for Stillwater. On the strength of that mild upset at 285, the Pioneers won their eighth weight class of the dual meet and a 29-27 final score.
Eighteen days before that one, it was a similarly close match, also won by Stillwater. The Pioneers scored a 27-26 victory as the teams split weight classes at seven apiece. However, it was not without controversy. In the evening's third to last bout, there was a mis-application of penalty points, which would have given Broken Arrow a major decision at 195; then based on how the last two matches went, there would have been a 27-27 tie, one in which the Tigers had criteria based on the match's lone pin.
In their lone individual bracket event of the season, at the Geary Invitational -- which was 2-1/2 weeks before the dual meet -- Broken Arrow out-pointed Stillwater by a decent amount for second place. No. 4 Blair Academy took first in the standings. It should be noted that the team scoring at Geary is not commensurate to the scoring used at the state individual tournament.
Headed into the festivities this Friday and Saturday at the State Fairgrounds Arena in Oklahoma City, Broken Arrow has qualified ten wrestlers, while Stillwater will be working with ten. Also, with a high number of qualifiers in Class 6A is Sand Springs with 11. The eleven qualifiers for Broken Arrow and Sand Springs are joint most for any team across the four classifications, as No. 24 Tuttle also qualified 11 in Class 4A.
3. Rivalries throughout WPIAL Class 3A meet an undercard for Hershey
No matter the pleading and begging of certain people, the individual power in Pennsylvania wrestling (Class 3A in specific) has shifted towards the west and middle parts of the state. It was no clearer than in last year's state tournament when 12 of 28 finalists -- including eight of 14 champions -- came from the WPIAL (i.e. southwest regional); five of the remaining six champions came from district 3 (i.e. south central regional). Next weekend at the GIANT Center in Hershey, Pa. is the state tournament, and this weekend is the WPIAL tournament in Class 3A.
The event, to be held at Penn Hills starting tomorrow and going through Saturday, features three nationally ranked teams as well as 13 nationally ranked individuals. Among those individuals are four ranked first in the country, and another pair holding down the No. 2 position. Eight wrestlers from this tournament hold the highest ranking position in the Pennsylvania big-school division.
Franklin Regional is the very strong favorite to repeat at the state tournament next week, and the Panthers already repeated as dual meet state champions. They qualified ten wrestlers to this tournament. The other two ranked teams have more qualifiers, and could plausibly out-point Franklin Regional this week but have no chance to do so next week. No. 34 Belle Vernon brings 12 to the WPIAL Class 3A meet, while No. 38 Greater Latrobe qualified 13. The top four finishers from each weight class here advance to the 20-man state tournament brackets.
Nationally ranked individuals are the following:
113: No. 6 Devin Brown (Franklin Regional)
120: No. 1 Spencer Lee (Franklin Regional)
126: No. 12 Gus Solomon (Franklin Regional)
132: No. 1 Luke Pletcher (Greater Latrobe), No. 6 A.C. Headlee (Waynesburg)
138: No. 1 Sam Krivus (Hempfield Area), No. 5 Cameron Coy (Penn Trafford)
145: No. 1 Michael Kemerer (Franklin Regional), No. 11 Jared Verkleeren (Belle Vernon)
152: No. 2 Vincenzo Joseph (Pittsburgh Central Catholic), No. 7 Josh Maruca (Franklin Regional)
160: No. 2 Josh Shields (Franklin Regional)
182: No. 13 Kellan Stout (Mt. Lebanon)
4. Best state tournament weight of the weekend? New York, Division 1, 106 pounds
Four nationally ranked wrestlers anchor the 106 pound weight class in New York, and all are in Division 1, which means the competition will be an excellent one. Furthering that spirit of competition is the fact each anchors one of the four quarter brackets. The upper half semifinal would be No. 7 Jacori Teemer (Long Beach) vs. No. 20 Tommy Cox (Deer Park), while the lower half bracket would place No. 19 Jake Silverstein (Hauppauge) vs. No. 12 Kellan McKenna (New Hartford).
The freshman Teemer won state last year in eighth grade down at 99 pounds, while the junior Cox went 1-2 in the same state tournament weight class; Teemer beat Cox 12-10 in the quarterfinal, with Cox losing his next match as well. The junior McKenna finished third at 99 pounds last year, while the freshman Silverstein is in his state tournament debut this year.
On the season, Teemer has not lost a match in which he has competed. He was champion at the Eastern States Classic, with 1-0 wins over Silverstein and McKenna during the semifinal and final rounds; Teemer did not wrestle would be semifinal opponent Cox this year. McKenna and Silverstein have also not wrestled one another this season (McKenna was runner-up at Eastern States to Silverstein's third). Cox and Silverstein have the most robust history here, as they have split four matches during the season, including the Section XI final two weekends ago that Silverstein won by 3-1 decision.
Four thoughts from last week's state championship competitions
1. No. 1 Oak Park River Forest, Ill. performed well, but it was far from perfect
As the nation's top-ranked teams, expectations are always high for Oak Park River Forest. That is even the case when they are absent a pair of nationally ranked wrestlers -- Anthony Madrigal (106) and Kamal Bey (170) -- along with another wrestler who would have been projected to place at state in Adam Lemke-Bell (285). Five wrestlers entered the state tournament ranked first in the state per Illinois Matmen, and all advanced to the state final.
However, those wrestlers went a combined 2-3 in their championship matches. No. 1 Isaiah White (152) and No. 20 Matthew Rundell (160) won state titles, while Jason Renteria (113), Alex Madrigal (120), and Larry Early (145) all finished second. Renteria lost to Austin Gomez (Glenbard North) 4-3 on a Gomez takedown very late in the match, the wrestlers flip the No. 3 and No. 4 positions in the rankings; Madrigal lost 3-1 in overtime to the previously un-ranked Michael Cullen (Cary-Grove), Cullen is now No. 15 nationally while Madrigal drops four positions to No. 13; Early lost 3-2 to the previously un-ranked Eric Barone (Crystal Lake South), Barone is now No. 15 nationally while Early dropped three positons to No. 7 in the country.
The other two Huskies placers were right on slot per their in-state ranking; Gabe Townsell (126) finished third, while Jamie Hernandez (132) finished in fourth. The other wrestler projected to place was Allen Stallings (220); however, he sustained an injury during the quarterfinal match and had to default out of the tournament.
2. Penn Kingsmen exorcise major demons in the Hoosier State
As one of the biggest enrollment schools in the state of Indiana, and one with success throughout its sports program, the relative lack of success in wrestling has been baffling. Headed into the weekend, Penn had zero wrestlers win a state title since 1971, with just seven wrestlers even making the state championship match. In addition, the Kingsmen have never won state as a team, regardless of format (scored at the individual tournament or in a dual meet tournament).
On the individual side, Penn had two wrestlers finish as runners-up last year, including Chase Osborn. They also had a runner-up in the 2013 state tournament, which was their first finalist in fourteen seasons. This Saturday night, the Kingsmen advanced three individuals to the state final. Drew Hildebrandt finished as runner-up at 113, before Osborn (182) and Kobe Woods (220) won their matches to end the long hiatus.
In addition, two other wrestlers placed fifth for Penn -- Joey Mammolenti (170) and Cory Christman (285). That was enough to score 79 team points, which yielded a team championship trophy for the Kingsmen. As a result, they moved into the Fab50 this week at No. 46 overall.
3. Southeast Polk sweeps state titles in Iowa big-school for second time in three years
This year's chapter of the Southeast Polk vs. Bettendorf rivalry in Iowa big-school wrestling was won by the No. 8 ranked Rams on all accounts. In Wednesday evening's state dual meet final, Southeast Polk won eight weight classes to defeat No. 20 Bettendorf 34-28. After five matches, the Rams faced a 19-3 deficit before winning six consecutive matches. The run started with a 5-4 decision victory by Mason Kerr at 170 pounds, then continued with a decision from Kameron Padavich (182) and a major decision from Deion Mikesell (195), before successive pins from No. 9 Ethan Andersen (220), No. 3 Jake Marnin (285), and Gauge Perrien (106) gave turned that deficit into a 31-19 advantange.
Bettendorf would respond with a 6-4 decision by No. 16 Jack Wagner (113) before a pin by Jacob Schwarm (120) created a potential winner take all match. However, a 7-1 decision by No. 20 Nolan Hellickson over Jackson Gallagher at 126 pounds gave Southeast Polk the win.
The individual tournament was a clear statement from Southeast Polk, as the Rams scored 193 points, which was the second most by any team in the history over the Iowa state tournament (Waverly-Shell Rock in 2007 has the record). Working with 13 state qualifiers, each individual won at least one match, with eleven earning a podium finish. The Rams were led by six state finalists, including the trio of titles won by No. 20 Hellickson (126), No. 9 Andersen (220), and No. 3 Marnin (285); finishing second were Aaron Meyer (145), Briar Dittmer (152), and Mikesell (195). Other placers were Nathan Lendt (113) in third, Keegan Shaw (138) in fourth, Gauge Perrien (106) in sixth, Brady Buchheit (160) in seventh, and Adam Brown (120) in eight.
Bettendorf was an impressive runner-up, placing seven of their eleven state qualifiers, including five state finalists. Winning titles were No. 16 Wagner (113), Schwarm (120), and No. 2 Fredy Stroker (145); while runner-up finishes came from Paul Glynn (132) and No. 6 Dayton Racer (160). Additional placers were Jackson Gallagher (126) and Jacob Woodard (152) finishing fourth. The Bulldogs scored 154 points of their own to distance themselves from third place Fort Dodge by 49, the same amount of their deficit to first place Southeast Polk.
4. Lousy weather adversely impacted some state tournaments last weekend
Unlike the post office, the lousy winter weather in certain parts of the country caused disruption to state tournament wrestling; whether it be snowstorm or just downright frigid conditions. The state tournament that was slated to be held in Kentucky this past weekend has been pushed back 2-1/2 weeks to March 10 and 11 (Tuesday and Wednesday). The event will still be held at Alltech Arena in Lexington.
On the other hand, the Virginia High School League made a more unpopular decision to address the weather that was headed towards the Commonwealth this past weekend. The state tournaments were scheduled to be held on Friday and Saturday (Class 6A & 5A at Robinson H.S., with Class 4A down through 1A at the Salem Civic Center). However, in response to the weather they shrunk each tournament down to just Friday. Each weight class was an eight-man bracket; to accommodate the drop to one day, all quarterfinal losers were eliminated from the tournament, with semifinalists guaranteed a top four medal.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now